A psychic war journalist, Elisa Ivanov, awakens Blade and together they begin a bloody journey to stop scientist Dr. Hauser.
Director John Lechago delivers a hokey instalment in the vein of the Axis of Evil trilogy in terms of production values and tone. Like the recent Band Puppet Master productions writers Brockton McKinney and Shawn Gabbori offer more warped Nazi science, a punishing puppet and a few Axis staple zombies thrown in for good measure.
Lechago does his best with the budget but if less was more we'd have nothing on screen, so credit has to be given. Blade is just off, his look, his size etc. Fans honestly have a better looking Blade puppets in their collections. Clairvoyant crusader Elisa played by Ukrainian actress Tania Fox is notable and out acts the majority of the cast both dressed and undressed with ease. Both Vincent Cusimano detective and Angelica Briones' Gloria deserve a mention.
The solid music score by Richard Band is the main reason to watch this Puppet Master spin off. Ultimately, it's in desperate need of a high budget remake of the original to reignite the franchise. It's unrecognisable when compared to Puppet Master 1 & 2. A Blade film could have been special but this just doesn't cut or hook the mustard.
Overall, as part of Full Moon's Deadly Ten sequels it's a good effort given the budget but it's clunky, rusty and the WWII story is tired. It highlights more than ever Puppet Master needs a serious reboot.
